Sunday, July 27, 2014

World's coolest bookstores

By Frances Cha, CNN

July 24, 2014 -- Updated 2042 GMT (0442 HKT)

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/23/travel/worlds-coolest-bookstores/Note from Lew
I have only been to two of the stores listed ,John King in Detroit and The Strand in New York City .
If you have visited some of the other shops mentioned your comments and recollections would be most welcome.. Have you been to any amazing bookstores that are not on this list?
Send all inquiries and comments to Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

7/29/2014 Responses sent by Blog Readers

From Kate Doordan Klavan

I'm lucky enough to have spent time in Portland, New York and
London...lived in the last two...so I've whiled away many happy hours at Strand,
Foyles and Powell's. While it's not as big as those 3 giants, there is a quite
large bookstore in Salt Lake City, Utah, that would repay a visitor for a few
hours of browsing: Sam Weller's. In fact, Salt Lake City has another (also)
wonderful second hand bookstore called after its founder, Ken Sanders. Of
course, there's also Moe's in Berkeley and just down the street another
bookstore called Shakespeare. Many years ago when I lived in rural Pennsylvania,
I loved spending time at Baldwin's Book Barn outside Westchester. When I used to
travel, I always devoured the Yellow Pages for second hand bookstores wherever I
was, which I guess dates me! But I've found wonderful, select smaller shops from
Birmingham, Alabama, to Boise, Idaho, to Boston and Denver and Butte, Montana.
Back to England for a moment--Blackwell's in Oxford is a truly wonderful
experience.

Enjoyed reading about the international CNN list...Thanks,

From Jane Peach

I’ve been to Powell’s Books many times. Every visit to Portland has to
allow for at least two trips to Powell’s. There are still parts of it I’ve never
set foot in, a bookstore with maps for you to pick up at the front door is
daunting to even the most determined visiting bibliophile. Despite its vast
size it still has that cozy used bookstore feeling that suggests books are more
than just a commodity there.

I’d like to visit some of the others on that list – The Strand &
Foyle’s for their history alone.

I always enjoy your posts, it’s a very pleasant part of my Sunday morning
routine

Bookplate Exchanges

This cartoon from The New Yorker seemed appropriate.

Here are a few bookplates for possible exchange.

Send scans of your duplicates to

Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

Engraved plate by W.P. Barrett

Polo Players Artist unknownCarlyle Baer was for many years the director of The American Society of Bookplate Collectors

Pencil Signed woodblock by Adrian Feint

Engraved plate for Arctic explorer/pilot

Senator from Arizona and Republican presidential candidate

Engraved by A.N. Macdonald in 1921

Engraved by The Western Banknote Company

Designed by K..Kawaaski in 1933printed from six blocks

Wood engraving by J.J. Lankes

Magician's Bookplate

Mystery Rebus Bookplate from Barbara

Hello!

I have come across your interesting website many times in the past, but
this is the first time I have had a query. I hope you can help.

I have come across what appears to be a rebus bookplate (attached), but
haven't so far been able to decipher it.

The hare and tree might possibly be Trehair, and there might be also be a
Shepherd (or similar spelling). Perhaps also a Knight - or 'Sir'. No idea what
the Sunderland refers to, or why the plate is dated 1909.

Have you by any chance ever come across this design before?

Best wishes,

Barbara

Note from Lew- Send scans of your mystery bookplates and I will try to assist you.See you again next Sunday .

Saturday, July 19, 2014

This interview with the noted bookplate artist Daniel Mitsui was conducted via Email.
It was from my perspective a very effective format and I hope to do several more of these interviews with artists , collectors and booksellers in the next few months.

Do you use a bookplate ?

The saying is that the cobbler's
family is always ill-shod, and I suppose that holds true here; I do not have a
custom exlibris for my family library yet. I started drawing one years ago, but
had to set it aside as I was busy with other projects. By the time I revisited
it, I was no longer satisfied with the design. I have a new design in mind, one
that will function also as a colophon for my publishing imprint, but I probably
will not have it finished this year.

In the meantime, I am using the
printer's proofs and overruns of the universal bookplates I issue in my own
books.

What was the first bookplate you designed ?

I received my first exlibris
commission in 2007 from an English philosophy professor. It was for his daughter
and depicted her patron saint, Agnes. The same man has since commissioned
bookplates for all of his children and godchildren, and for his wife. The
subjects include St. Francis, St. Dorothy, St. Barbara, St. Columba and St.
Margaret of Antioch.

Before I received that first
commission, I had not considered designing bookplates and did not even clearly
understand what they were. After posting my first two or three bookplate designs
on my website, you contacted me and it was through your web log that I realized
how many exlibris enthusiasts and collectors exist. In order to build a better
portfolio, I drew bookplates as gifts for family members and friends over the
next year.

I receive commissions for custom
bookplates pretty consistently, usually about half a dozen each year. This year
I have received quite a few more; I have already completed ten.

What was the most challenging bookplate you designed ?

Generally, bookplates are
easy work for me; detailed black and white ink drawing is my greatest artistic
strength, and this is what the medium requires for printing. Composition is
something that comes naturally to me; I don't have much trouble figuring out how
to arrange dozens of elements into a small space.

Bookplates do require me to incorporate unique subject matter which I normally would not draw. This is a challenge, but an
enjoyable one. Probably nine-tenths of my drawings are based on late medieval
Northern European art. Most of my bookplates are designed in the same style. But
on occasion, I am asked to draw a stave church portal or a Korean turtle ship,
or something in a Victorian or Persian style.

What questions from a client need to be asked before you begin ?It is one of my artistic
peculiarities that I do not like to prepare rough drafts. I've found that doing
so results in a less lively drawing. Because of this, I want to have all of the
details of a commission worked out before I put pen to paper. Generally, a
patron gives me a central subject or theme, a list of other details to include,
the name and motto, and a general description of the intended style.

Do you have a series of scans or a video showing the start , the
progression and the completion of a bookplate?Not that I remember saving. Once I
start work on an exlibris I usually finish it within a few days, so it hasn't
occurred to me to record its progression recently. Generally, I work on the
ornamental parts first, then the lettering, and then the central image.

My sense is that you have completed and have been paid for more bookplates
over the last four years than any other American artist .

Why do you think this has happened?

I receive commissions from
bibliophiles and exlibris enthusiasts, many of whom find me through your website
or recommendation. Most of my commissions, however, come from the same base of
patrons who are interested in my religious artwork. This is evident from the
number of bookplates I have designed featuring saints or religious themes.
Often, these are commissioned as gifts to commemorate baptisms, confirmations,
weddings or ordinations.

I would not be so prolific in
bookplate design had I not succeeded in getting this group of patrons interested
in exlibris. I imagine that many of them were not at first interested in
bookplates per se, but saw in them an opportunity to commission original,
personalized artwork from me on a small scale and at a low cost.

Your designs are unique. How would you describe them?

Black and white ink drawing
has been my specialty since I was eighteen years old. I have explored many
styles and forms of art in the fourteen years since then (including surrealism,
comic strips and film animation) but my affinity for minutely detailed ink
drawing with crisply defined lines and general horror vacui has never
changed. I have for this entire time been fond of organic, non-repeating
decoration. One of my signature practices is to fill borders and backgrounds
with tiny cell organelles, seashells or plants.

Currently, my principal
influence is late medieval Northern European art. Most of this is religious in
nature, although I admire secular art from the same era as well. For obvious
reasons, the two-dimensional media of manuscript illumination, panel painting,
millefleur tapestry and printmaking most strongly interest me. The influence of
works such as the Lady and the Unicorn Tapestries and the Sherborne Missal can
be spotted in most of my drawings; illustrated incunabula such as those produced
by the partnership of Philippe Pigouchet and Simon Vostre are especially strong
influences on black and white bookplate designs. The 19th century medievalist
William Morris is another obvious source of inspiration.

This late medieval style is
one that harmonizes well with my own strengths as a draftsman, but it is not the
only one. On occasion I enjoy drawing pictures that resemble Northumbro-Irish
manuscripts (such as the Lindisfarne Gospels) or Japanese woodblock prints, and
would welcome more exlibris commissions in these styles. Mughal miniatures have
my curiosity as well. One day, I hope to integrate elements from all these
different kinds of art into a single signature style.

If you were the recipient of a Guggenheim grant that enabled you to create
art without concern about on going bills and expenses what would you like to
create ?

Had I such funds, I would do
the same things that I am doing now, but more quickly and with less worry about
the cost and risk. My long-terms plans as an artist are to devote significant
training, practice and study to improving my calligraphic hand, my figure
drawing, and my land- sea- and skyscapes. As I mentioned, I want to work more in
the Northumbro-Irish, Japanese and Mughal styles, and to complete a series of
speculative drawings in each. Cartographic art is something that I've loved for
years but not yet tried, and I want someday to draw an elaborate
mappamundi.

There are dozens of
letterpress broadsides and universal bookplates that I am ready to issue through
my Millefleur Press imprint, but have not because I still need to secure funds
to pay the papermakers and pressmen.

Eventually, my ambition is to
publish not only broadsides and bookplates, but complete fine press books, all
done with letterpress printing and handmade papers and bindings, all featuring
my own illustrations and typefaces. Projects that I have in mind include new
versions of short 15th century devotional blockbooks (Biblia pauperum,
Ars memoranda, Exercitum super Pater Noster, Symbolum
Apostolicum). I want to illustrate and publish a Book of Hours, which was
the most popular devotional book for literate laymen of the late Middle Ages,
and which has not existed since then. I would like to publish, using the style
and (as far as I am able) process of Japanese woodblock printing, an edition of
the Tenchi Hajimari No Koto, a text produced by the hidden Christians of
Japan during the period of persecution. A work of secular literature that has my
interest is The Rime of the Ancynt Marinere, which I would publish using
the original 1798 text, matching the illustrations and typography to the
deliberately archaic 15th century vocabulary and spelling.

Danmitsui@hotmail.com

Sunday, July 13, 2014

The best and most complete printed resource for information about Rockwell Kent bookplates isRockwell Kent The Art of The Bookplate by Don Roberts. Before it was published in 2003 the most helpful resource was a small printed checklist by Dan Burne Jones ( a keepsake from The American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers)

Leo Hart was a well respected printer in Rochester New York. When he asked Kent for bookplate suggestions Kent came up with the design of a punning plate using a lion and a deer.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart_(deer)

The bookplates were printed by Hart's company.

After Mr. Hart's death many variants of the original were printed as memorial plates without Kent's input.
Here is one I found on the internet

Here are three more from my own collection:

These two images were sent by Scott R Ferris

If you have other examples of Leo Hart memorial plates please send scans and they will be added to this posting

Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

This is a Kent inspired bookplate used by Leo Hart's son and daughter in law.

It is in many Kent collections

It is listed in the Keepsake but it is not listed in Don Robert's book..

For clarification I sent the following email to fellow collector Will Ross :

Dear Will,

In 1978 the American Bookplate Society issued a small keepsake about the
bookplates of Rockwell Kent.

It included the Joan and Horace Hart bookplate.

Ken Roberts did not include it.

Can you clarify the omission ? Was the keepsake listing in error?

If so, do you know anything about the bookplate?

Regards,

Lew

This was his response:

Hello Lew,

Hope you are well. Interesting query. I remember very well
discussing the issue of this bookplate, and some others, with Don while he was
doing the compiling.

Don decided, and rightfully so in my opinion, only
to include bookplates that were designed by Kent to BE bookplates. The Joan and
Horace Hart plate, like some others, is actually based on an illustration used
for another purpose. In this case the dust jacket to Shakespeare's "Venus and
Adonis," published by Leo Hart in 1931. In fact, I have a letter from Horace
Hart dated February 14, 1969, where he says exactly that. I will be happy to
send a copy to you if you wish.

*Another example are the plates J.
Edouard and Elizabeth Diamond did, which are quite large, based on illustrations
RK did for the complete works of Shakespeare.

Hope this answers your
question. Keep up the good work! Enjoy every
weeks "Confessions."

Best,
Will

*Note from Lew- This is an example of one of the four Diamond plates using a Kent illustration.

It is printed on silk thread paper and certainly is quite large ( 8 inches wide by 10 inches high)

Here is another bookplate listed in the keepsake which is not in the Roberts book.

Elbridge Hadley Stuart was the son of the founder of The Carnation( Milk) Company.

If anyone out there can send additional information about the plate it will be added to this posting
.

From The Let The Buyer Beware File

Rockwell Kent designed a bookplate for George Henry Corey in 1940

About thirty years later the image was" borrowed" .

That wraps it up for today. See you next Sunday.

Friday, July 11, 2014

Yesterday I visited a local Philadelphia bookshop, The Book Trader. They have been in Philadelphia for over thirty years and it's always nice to see a bookseller survive and prosper.
I have only gotten a few bookplates there but hope springs eternal..
The trip as it turns out was productive.. Here is what I found:

I believe the bookplate was done by silkscreen. The owner lived in Moorestown New Jersey .
The artist was A. G. Hull a cartographer also from Moorestown New Jersey.
Any additional biographical information about the owner or the artist would be most welcome.

Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

The second bookplate was for Oscar F. Roller an early 20th century lithographer in Philadelphia

I contacted David Doret , a knowledgeable lithographic collector and he referred me to

Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary, Library Company of Philadelphia,

.The search did not unearth any information about Mr Roller but the database is an excellent resource so here is a link:

I'll be back on Sunday . See you soon.

Sunday, July 06, 2014

Many years ago I bought two large loose leaf albums .One for 18th century British bookplates and the other for 19th century items.. Both albums are bursting at the seams but the 19th century album is particularly unwieldy because I inserted many 20th century items in it.
I just created a new album specifically for the 20th century English bookplates It contains among others the bookplates of John Farleigh ,about whom I knew very little.To learn more about him I purchased a copy of The Wood Engravings of John Farleigh by Monica Poole.That is my primary source for the John Farleigh checklist.shown below.

Note from Lew- I would like to obtain a copy of the Thomas Hudson Middleton bookplate for my collection .If anyone out there has one for sale or trade please contact me.

Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

Here is an article copied from the Tapei Times July 6th 2014

PROFILE: Artistic principal spurs interest in bookplates

By Kuo Yen-hui and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Wu Wang-ju, principal of New Taipei City’s Jimei Elementary School, holds up one of his bookplates in New Taipei City on March 23.

Photo: Kuo Yen-hui, Taipei Times

Well-known among his peers for being a fount of creativity in advancing arts education, New Taipei City’s Jimei Elementary School principal Wu Wang-ju (吳望如) recently set a new standard when he introduced bookplates in school libraries in New Taipei City, which generated huge interest among students and parents in creating bookplates.

Bookplates, also known as “ex libris” in Latin, meaning “from the books of,” are usually a small print or decorative label pasted into a book, often on the inside front cover, to indicate its owner.

Though Wu’s desk was covered in official documents awaiting his signature at the time of the interview, he said he was quite happy to set aside some time to talk about the art of etching and bookplate collections.

Wu said he was introduced to etching in an art class in the second grade of elementary school, where the teacher taught them how to do relief printing using the stencil technique.

The students had to cut out a pattern that they liked before placing it on a wooden board to be printed onto another piece of paper, Wu said, adding that the class had sparked his interest in the subject.

He took the subject at arts college and as he did his military service in Kinmen County, he chose 53 statues of lion-like figures called fungshihyeh (風獅爺) that are found throughout Kinmen as the subjects of his first series of etchings.

He was later invited by the local government to exhibit his work in Kinmen, which Wu said was a great source of pride for him.

Wu said he has tried his best through the years to teach his students the many printing techniques he learned in college, such as screenprinting, and how different template materials affect etchings.

The unpredictability of the final product’s appearance is what makes printmaking fun, as it not only inspires printmakers to be more creative, but also reminds them to pay attention to details, he said.

The materials that a printmaker has to work with present their own set of difficulties, Wu said.

Pointing to gypsum as an example, Wu said the mixing of gypsum, how it is cut, how to prevent it from becoming water-stained and how it reacts in different weather conditions are all things a printmaker has to be aware of.

Wu said that he once failed 12 times in a row making a gypsum print due to hot weather ruining the final product.

“It was an experience that taught me to think what I could do to make printmaking more easily accessible and more fun for students to learn,” Wu said.

Wu said he found a solution — using a resin board, a material similar to polystyrene — while traveling abroad a decade ago.

Resin is softer than wood and rubber and although it somewhat lacked the artistic sense of printmaking, it was more accessible to students as they could draft their patterns on the board with pencils before cutting them into the board with a knife, Wu said.

“It saved time and also increased the students’ interest in the subject,” Wu said, adding that the extended time needed to complete a print is also the main reason printmaking is not taught in schools very often. It takes on average two to three weeks to complete a print from scratch.

“Students may show interest in the first few classes, but they usually start losing interest or become impatient by the third or fourth class,” Wu said.

Introducing ex libris prints in classes significantly cuts down the time to make the prints and also makes the work easier to complete, Wu said. “As an indicator of the ownership of any book, the ex libris shows the viewer the level of artistic appreciation of the owner and their creativity,” Wu said. “Bookplates are fun to make or to collect.”

“On the one hand the promotion of ex libris prints popularizes the items among members of the public and on the other, it facilitates production by students,” he added.

Wu said he dreams of one day starting his own ex libris museum to further introduce Taiwanese to bookplates, as well as facilitating interaction between book collectors.

Odds and Ends

Some Interesting Links

The London School of Economics and Political Science has an ongoing blog feature about bookshops around the world which students and academics should visit.There is even one from Brooklyn , New York.

Pilgrims Book House in Kathmandu

A bookstore occupies the first two floors of the former “Paris Department Store” (formerly Divatcsarnok). The building was once the site of the Terézváros Casino, builded in 1885 in neo-Renaissance style. Credit: jaime silva CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The company "Maison Stern et Aumoitte" was founded in 1836 by a Mister Aumoitte who joined to a young engraver, Moses Stern. This partnership lasted till the end of the 1850s when Moses Stern took over the "House".

The ex-libris (bookplate) of Maison Stern transforms into a large letter "S" within which a standing lion rests its foreleg paw on an interlaced "MS" monogram. Completing this composition, there are an arm wielding an engraver's tool and two pieces of armor, a glove and a helmet. During the Universal Exhibitions of 1867 and 1889, Maison Stern is awarded the Gold Medal for quality. Thereafter Moses Stern will on occasion be a member of the jury awarding this same medal.

In the 1890s, Mr.Stern takes his son René as associate to the company which becomes "Stern and sons". René Stern takes over the shop in 1904. Maison Stern has been honored to count, among prestigious customers, the presidential Elysée Palace for its menus and invitations, embassies, nobility and French and foreign major companies. Each has long contributed to the good name of the "Maison".

Generations of engravers at Maison Stern have followed one another since. Nowadays there is a very strong will in the company to preserve, to value and to build upon know-how and techniques which tend to recede.

Monthly Viewers by country

I don't look at my page views by country statistics (furnished by Google) very often but I just glanced at them and was pleasantly surprised to see how many blog readers tune in from Saudi Arabia. China rarely shows up because of the ongoing tension between the government of China and Google
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